OR Phone Calls
by reagancrew
Summary: Just a little Calzona one-shot. Arizona is having some trouble in the OR and Callie helps her out. DISCLAIMER: I do not own Grey's Anatomy.


Arizona Robbins was hardcore. She was a total badass. Sure, Calliope was the one people referred to as badass: she broke bones for a living. But when Arizona was in the OR, her OR, she was definitely hardcore. She was awesome...super awesome. The future of peds. And Arizona Robbins did NOT ever, under any circumstances, cry. Well, she cried in front of authority figures. But this was different. In her operating room, she was the authority figure. And so Arizona did not cry in her OR. But right now, at this moment, with her hands inside of a beautiful ten year old little girl, Arizona felt like crying. And not just letting a few tears escape but full out, downright sobbing.

The surgery was supposed to be simple, get in and get out, a procedure Arizona could have done in her sleep, which was why she had insisted they schedule it, even though it was the last four hours of a 48 hour shift. But now, it had been 12 hours and Arizona hasn't slept properly, wrapped in the loving hours of her wife, held her daughter, heard her perfect little baby laugh in two and a half days, and it was bringing her down.

Her fellow, Alex Karev, was feeling the strain too. She had forced him to take a break for the past two hours, letting him recharge because she knew he had a long shift ahead of him. It wouldn't do the tiny humans any good if Karev was fried while she was at home, sleeping. Oh god, sleep. That was all Arizona wanted. Sleep and Calliope. She felt the tears start to prick at her eyes again. Taking a deep breath she surveyed the patient on the table in front of her.

Emily had been a bright bubbly little girl just yesterday, but when she collapsed at a birthday party, her parents rushed her to Seattle Grace Mercy West. Alex has run the proper scans, done the correct tests, and declared surgery to be the only real chance Emily had of opening her eyes for her parents again. So here she was, on Arizona's table.

The blonde surgeon tried not to get too attached to her patients, she really did, because otherwise it made the dreams about the tiny coffins so much worse. There were faces that went along with the coffins when she let herself get too attached. But this was peds, it was impossible not to play with the kids, listen to their fears, tell them stories, check under the bed for monsters during night rounds. And Arizona knew that part of what made her such a great surgeon, such a total rockstar with a scalpel, was that she could connect with her patients. They loved her. And she, in the way of their surgeon loved them all, too. But here she was, working on a perfect little girl, a girl who loved to run and swing and who had named her stuffed . Her little body couldn't take much longer. Children were strong, stronger than adults, resilient, Arizona would tell anyone who would listen, but their tiny bodies weren't built to withstand the stress of laying on an OR table for more than half a day.

"Dammit, Emily," Arizona muttered under her breath. Those were the first two words she had said in over an hour, and they opened the floodgates. The prickling behind her eyes became intense, too strong to ignore. "Dammit. Dammit. Dammit!" she stepped away from the patient, and let the tears start to fall.

" ?" one of her nurses questioned quietly.

Arizona knew what she needed to do; she did, but she needed a minute. W,ell she needed an hour or six of sleep and the loving arms of her wife. The tears were coming faster now, harder. Calliope. "Can someone please get my wife on the, on the phone, please," she managed to stutter out. The next thing she knew, someone was holding her phone to her ear.

"Hello?" Callie's voice was heavy with sleep, but even so, Arizona felt herself lean into the phone a bit more, aching for her wife's touch. "Arizona?" Callie asked, sounding more awake.

"Hey," Arizona mumbled, trying not to let her tears come any harder.

"Arizona?" Callie was fully awake now. She sounded worried.

"Hi," Arizona managed again and then she really was crying. "Cal-Cal-callie," she stuttered.

"Baby. Baby I'm here. What's wrong? Arizona? What's going on? Are you okay? Are you still at the hospital? I'm coming." Arizona could hear movement over the phone. She knew Calliope could hear her tears. And Arizona hardly ever let Callie see her cry, let alone call in the middle of a breakdown. In that moment she was reminded exactly why she had fallen in love her wife in the first place, that big heart. So full of love and care.

"It's ok. I'm ok," she managed, hoping to stop Callie's movement toward the hospital. "I'm ok," she said again and she could hear Callie pause over the line. "I just, I just needed to hear your voice."

"Well hey. Here I am. I'm right here. What's going on, babe? Talk to me."

And so she did. She opened her mouth and it all came pouring out. Just hearing the sleepy voice of the Latina made Arizona calmer and so, as she spoke, she indicated to the nurse and the woman put Callie on speaker phone, set the cell down on a tray next to the surgeon and stepped back respectfully.

Arizona started with the patient history. She told Callie everything she could about Emily while her wife, her beautiful, wonderful wife who had just been jolted out of bed at the ass crack of dawn by a crazy, hyperventilating peds surgeon, talked back, asking questions and suggesting maneuvers that Arizona's exhausted brain wouldn't have been able to contemplate by itself.

Before she knew it, two more hours had gone past, Alex had reentered the operating room, staying out of his mentors way and listening to the conversation she was having. For the blonde surgeon it was as though she was alone in the operating theater, Callie's voice the only thing keeping her grounded.

"That's it," she whispered, putting the final stitch in. "Callie, we did it!"

"You did it babe! You're a rock star. I'm so proud of you."

Arizona looked up from her position over Emily's chest and saw Callie standing in the scrub room, her phone pressed to her ear and a huge a smile on her face. Arizona gave her one of her famous super magic smiles in return. "Karev? You can close."

Karev smiled appreciatively and stepped up.

"Thank you, everyone," Arizona said not taking her eyes from her wife. She headed for the scrub room.

"You didn't have to come," she whispered as she practically fell into her wife's warm embrace, her legs finally having decided to stop working after the 14 hour marathon she'd just run.

"Of course I did," Callie murmured into her hair, pulling her over to the sinks and standing behind her as Arizona scrubbed out.

When she was finished she leaned back into the strong, waiting arms. "She's gonna to be okay. Thank you so much."

Callie leaned down and captured Arizona's lips with her own. "Let's get you home, beautiful. Karev can handle the parents," she was quick to interject when it looked like Arizona was going to argue.

Arizona let the brunette lead her out of the OR and the hospital and towards their apartment. She couldn't wait to fall into bed, cuddled tightly with her wife, and sleep for ages.


End file.
